It is known to prepare beverages wherein a mixture consisting of brewed coffee and coffee powder is separated with centrifugal forces. Such a mixture is obtained by bringing hot water and coffee powder together for a defined time. The water is then forced through a screen, on which screen powder material is present.
Existing systems consist of placing the coffee powder in a receptacle which is usually a non-removable part of a machine such as in EP 0367600B1. Such devices have many disadvantages. Firstly, the coffee powder must be properly dosed manually in the receptacle. Secondly, the centrifuged coffee waste becomes dry and it must be removed by scraping the surface of the receptacle. As a result, the coffee preparation requires a lot of manual handling and is so very time consuming. Usually coffee freshness can also vary a lot and this can impact on the cup quality because coffee comes generally from bulk package or coffee is ground from beans in the receptacle itself. Also, depending on the manual dosage of coffee and the brewing conditions (e.g., centrifugal speed, receptacle size) the cup quality can vary a lot. Therefore, these systems have never reached an important commercial success.
EP1208782A1 relates to a device for preparing coffee beverages from capsules of different dimensions. The volume of the capsules is obtained by extending the body of the capsule at its open side thus creating capsules of different larger diameters. As a result, the capsule adaptation in the device is complex and requires moving elements to ensure proper tightness. In a centrifuge device, this would create wearing between the device after a certain period of use and would create vibrations when the capsule is centrifuged.
In a centrifugal system, an additional risk exists to create vibrations if the capsules is not properly supported in the centrifugal device. For a set of capsules presenting different volumes and containing different amounts of ingredient, there is an increased risk of unbalance and, consequently a risk of producing vibrations. The brewing device can move when it vibrates and it may generate a very important noise. Furthermore, a lack of support in the capsule holder can cause deformation of the capsule during centrifugation and create potential failure of the container, in particular, for plastic capsules. Therefore, there is a need for providing a capsule system that is able to deliver conveniently a wider variety of beverages, in particular coffees having different characteristics (taste, crema, etc.) in the centrifuge brewing device.
DE 102005007852 discloses a machine comprising a removable holder into which an open cup-shaped part of the receptacle is placed; the other part or lid being attached to a driving axis of the machine. However, one disadvantage is the intensive manual handling. Another disadvantage is the difficulty to control quality of the coffee due to a lack of control for the dosing of the powder and a lack of control of the freshness of the coffee powder.
Other devices for brewing coffee by centrifuge forces are described in WO 2006/112691; FR2624364; GB2253336; FR2686007; EP0749713; DE4240429; EP0651963; FR2726988; DE4439252; FR2132310; FR2513106; FR2487661; DE3529053.
However, the effect of centrifugal forces to brew coffee or other food substances presents many advantages compared to normal type brewing methods using high pressure pumps. For example, in “espresso” coffee type brewing methods, it is very difficult t o master all the parameters which influence the quality of extraction of the delivered coffee extract. These parameters are typically the pressure, the flow rate which decreases with the pressure, the compaction of the coffee powder which also influences the flow characteristics and which depends on the coffee ground particle size, the temperature, the water flow distribution and so on.
Therefore, there is a need for proposing a new extraction process and a capsule adapted therefore for which the extraction parameters can be better and more independently controlled and therefore can be better mastered for controlling quality of the final brewed beverage or food liquid product.
There is also a need for providing a system capable of brewing different kinds of beverages, in particular, coffee beverages, for example, espresso, filter coffee or café latte, while adjusting the brewing characteristics of each beverage so that the optimum beverage can be obtained. In particular, there is a need for a versatile system which provides an easy, simple way of controlling the brewing parameters, in particular, the brewing pressure range on the bed of substance.
At the same time, there is a need for a way of preparing a beverage or food liquid which is more convenient compared to the prior art centrifugal coffee preparing devices and which provides a better in-cup quality with a higher control of important quality parameters such as freshness and accurate dosage of the substance in the receptacle.
The present invention now satisfies these needs and provides novel capsules, devices, systems and method of use for centrifugally preparing beverages or other food liquid products.